


Siren's call

by Aisjustrunning



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-14 22:45:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5761771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aisjustrunning/pseuds/Aisjustrunning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eric Bittle (baker, hockey forward, former figure skater, 1/8 siren blood), moves into the Haus of the Samwell Hockey team. He has been doing well in terms of not singing and accidentally bewitching his team for a year, but he just really loves Taylor Swift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Siren's call

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dysprosium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dysprosium/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DYNAH!
> 
> I hope you like this (I started like three other fics for you before I started this...), because you really deserve nice things. I somehow managed to give this fic kind of an angsty vibe instead of the crack fest it could have been, though. Anyway, I love you.
> 
> Thanks to [Kayci](http://punkrockinchairs.tumblr.com/) for the super quick (and nice!) beta. Any remaining mistakes are completely mine. 
> 
> Prompt from [this tumblr post](http://ilovetextingandscones.tumblr.com/private/137407713526/tumblr_nn9umyiwyq1qca8um) (I want to read half of them with the CP! characters. Somebody please write succubus!Chowder):“i’m a siren and i keep accidentally forgetting that i have roommates now and and end up putting them in my thrall when i’m singing taylor swift songs in the shower.
> 
> Check, Please!is owned by Ngozi and the songs are Taylor Swift's (please don't sue me!).

_But I keep cruising_  
_Can't stop, won't stop moving_  
_It's like I got this music_  
_In my mind_  
_Saying, "It's gonna be alrigh_ t.

Shake It Off – Taylor Swift

 

“This is going to be alright,” Bitty tells himself when he finally plops down on the bed next to Señor Bunny after a day of fixing things in the Haus: cleaning up, getting the new curtains, trying (unsuccessfully) to throw away the den's green couch... “It's going to be fine.”

 

He's nervous, he can't help it; he's never lived with people who don't know about his... thing. Gift? Heredity? The siren blood. He's never told anyone, and he doesn't think he could. How did one even start that conversation? _Hi, my name is Eric_ _Bittle, I'm from Georgia, I play hockey and my great grandfather was a merman, yes, I don't know how that even works either, no I don't have scales, by the way sometimes I sing and people are suddenly attracted to me, so sorry I hope y'all don't mind_?

 

But he was so excited about living with the team, about finally feeling accepted in a place, feeling like he belonged somewhere, living with... no, he was not going to think about Jack. That was a bad train of thought. He focused on living with the boys in general, on how great it was going to be to make breakfast for everybody, to walk together to practice or to class.

 

It was going to be _alright_. He turns on the radio, and Taylor Swift's new single is on.

\-----

 _Magic, madness, heaven, sin_  
_Saw you there and I thought oh my god_  
_Look at that face, you look like my next mistake_  
_Love's a game, wanna play._

Blank Space – Taylor Swift

 

It's not alright. The first time it happens, he doesn't notice he was singing. He just loves singing, okay? He's in the shower, and “Blank Space” comes up on the radio while he's getting dried with his new fluffy towels. He may have danced a bit, but he doesn't even remember singing. However, when he opens the bathroom door, towel tied on his waist, wet hair dripping onto his shoulders; Shitty, Ransom, Holster and Lardo are there, looking at him with glassy eyes.

 

Bitty can't help but let out a loud gasp and stands there, paralyzed, not knowing what to do. Goodness gracious. This hasn't happened since he was a kid and hadn't learned about his powers yet. Jack's head popping out of his bedroom saves Bitty from having to do anything.

 

“What are you five doing there?” Jack says, looking at where they're all standing, the guys and Lardo looking at Bitty, who's still wearing only a towel and dripping water on the floor. Jack's voice seems to make them snap out of it.

 

“Brah, I have no fucking clue.” Shitty looks around, taking in his surroundings, as if trying to figure out how he got there. To be fair, that's probably exactly what he is doing. Bitty knows how it feels in theory; his mom has told him, even if she hasn't felt it too often: Coach isn't exactly one for singing much, maybe because of this exact reason. “I was in my room and then...”

 

“Yeah, we were in the attic and then there was music, right, Rans?” Holster asks, looking as confused as Shitty.

 

“Yeah. Next thing I know, I'm here and I'm thinking about...” Ransom interrupts himself with a cough. “Ahem. Nothing.”

 

“Great,” Jack says. “I have no idea what you've been taking, but anyway, just let Bittle go back to his room to change before he catches a cold.”

 

They all look at Bitty, then at each other, shrug, and go back to wherever they were before they heard Bitty's singing. Bitty feels a bit bad, but he knows from experience that they'll soon forget that this even happened.

 

He takes a few steps towards his room, but Jack is still at the door of his own, looking at Bitty. His stare is somewhat intense, but not glazed at all, nothing that would suggest he heard Bitty singing and could be under the spell of a siren call. Bitty ignores the stare and keeps on walking, not sure whether Jack is just being his weird self, or if Bitty did something to bother him and he's decided he's going to go back to hating Bitty.

 

When Bitty reaches his own door, Jack calls to him.

 

“Bittle. If you're going to keep on singing in the shower this early, at least be quieter.”

 

\-----

 

 _Walkin' the streets with you and your worn-out jeans_  
_I can't help thinking this is how it ought to be_  
_Laughing on a park bench, thinking to myself_  
_Hey isn't this easy_  
You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

 

Next time it happens, it's in the locker room.

 

The team has been doing great lately and Bitty himself is doing fine in most aspects of his life. The season didn't start so well, with Bitty even more scared of checking than before, terrified of being on the ice with the team, the lightest touch setting off all his alarms. And that hurts, because this is his team, his family. This is his ice, and Bitty loves the ice. Sometimes he wonders if it has to do with the siren part of him, liking water so much, even when it's frozen. He doesn't have to stay wet or anything, but he does like water, in any form. So this _hurts_.

 

Jack helps a lot with the checking practice, however; and that becomes another problem for Bitty, because the crush he has on Jack gets bigger with every coffee they share after practice, with every time they walk together and Jack makes him laugh, with every hit on the ice, even.

 

Bitty has been careful to avoid any other incident with the team. He dances around the kitchen while baking, making an effort not to sing. He keeps his voice very low in the shower, or showers when he knows nobody else is in the Haus. And it's working—until they let him put some music on in the locker room after a win.

 

He puts his phone's music on shuffle and goes about his usual routine, showering and changing. When he's almost done, “You Belong With Me” starts playing, and again, he doesn't even register what he's doing, he just starts singing in tune with Taylor Swift's voice. The room falls silent suddenly, everybody looking at Bitty with glassy eyes. Everybody but Jack, who keeps on talking while lacing his shoes.

 

“By the way, Rans, after that pass, we c—Rans?” Jack looks up and Bitty finds his eyes. They look... normal; Jack looks perfectly fine, if surprised by the sudden quiet of the room while everybody looks at Bitty with awe in their eyes. Jack snaps his fingers in Ransom's face. “Rans, I'm talking to you.”

 

Ransom snaps out of it quickly, and everybody else seems to be coming back to their senses, the effects of Bitty's voice fading out.

 

Some of them look confused, some uncomfortable. Chowder doesn't look too different, which makes Bitty worry a bit about how this kid feels—or doesn't feel—about _everybody,_ since this seems to affect him but cause little change in the way he looks and acts. Dexter is blushing to the tips of his ears. Even Nursey seems to have lost some of his chill.

 

Bitty looks at Jack, who looks confused too, and a bit annoyed, but in a different way than everybody else, as if he's only bothered by being ignored by Ransom; not confused and annoyed by intrusive thoughts related to Bitty like everybody else in the room is probably feeling.

 

He goes back to changing and promises himself it won't happen again.

 

\-----

 

_You can see it with the lights out, lights out  
You are in love, true love._

You Are in Love - Taylor Swift

 

He talks with mother on the phone often, and avoids telling her about the two times he hadn't been careful enough. She asks, she always does, in between pieces of gossip and tales from home. She asks about his life in college in general, about hockey, even if she doesn't really understand a thing about it. Then she asks if he's doing fine, living with so many people, and he bites his bottom lip and uses his experience in lying to his family, all those years of “I'm too busy for a girlfriend,” and tells her everything is fine.

 

She's always the one who talks to him about this, even if it would make more sense for it to be Coach with his first hand experience. But Coach has never been too talkative, and Bitty enjoys talking to mother more, anyway.

 

Sometimes he feels tempted to tell her everything, including his crush on Jack, but he's not sure how she would react.

 

Sometimes he thinks she knows anyway, that she can hear something in the way he talks about Jack; something in his voice that's different than when he talks about the rest of the boys.

 

\-----

 

 _You took a Polaroid of us_  
_Then discovered (then discovered)_  
_The rest of the world was black and white_  
_But we were in screaming color._

Out of the Woods - Taylor Swift

 

Jack and Bitty go for coffee one day after the science class all the team takes together, the rest of boys leaving to go to different classes or to study.

 

The radio is playing Top 40 songs and Jack and Bitty sit in silence, Bitty warming his hands up with his hot mug, Jack looking at the pictures in his camera, some of them he has taken in their way to Annie's, showing Bitty some.

 

When “Out of the woods” comes up on the radio, Bitty sings along to the first line, before catching himself and stopping. He looks around, and sure, some people turned to look at him, but he doesn't think he did any damage.

 

Jack doesn't seem affected at all, he just keeps on going through his pictures.

 

He shows Bitty the screen of the camera. “Look at this one I took before practice this morning...”

 

\-----

_Say you'll remember me._

Wildest Dreams – Taylor Swift

 

Christmas comes and goes. Bitty goes home, texts the team, and makes the most of the time in Georgia with his parents to sing to his heart's content.

 

The months pass and Bitty is careful that there aren't any more “episodes,” not even when they seem to be winning everything and all he wants is to dance and sing, not even when they lose and all he wants is curl into a ball and let music wash the disappointment away. Not even when he thinks of graduation looming over them, a deadline on the life he's been having this year.

 

Then Jack buys him an oven, and that unchains a series of events.

 

Bitty's birthday party is nice; lots of people, but not like a kegster, and when he goes to sleep that night he feels happier than he has ever felt. He had danced, once he'd stopped crying, and baked a pie to try the oven (it's perfect).

 

However, when he wakes up the next morning to what seems like an empty Haus, he can't help thinking of how _Jack bought him an oven._ How Jack is perfect, and handsome, and makes him laugh, and how Jack is straight and graduating very soon. So he does what any normal person would do: he puts on his headphones, looks for “Wildest Dreams” and lies down on his bed to listen to it and wallow in his own grief.

 

This time he knows he's singing, but there's nobody home, nobody can hear him.

 

He listens to the song on repeat a few times, until a loud knocking on his door makes him open his eyes and stop singing.

 

“Bittle! Come on! Open the door!” Jack's voice reaches him from the other side of the door. He notices there's a lot of noise outside, too. He stands up and debates whether he should open the door or not since he's been singing, but... so far, for some reason, Jack has seemed immune to his power, so he opens the door. Jack barges in, looking out of breath.

 

“We need to close the window,” he says, going to the window and doing exactly that. “I closed the door downstairs when I come in. Do you happen to know why half of the people who live on this street are trying to get into the Haus?”

 

“I...” Bitty trails off, unsure if he should tell Jack, but... what does he have to lose? Jack is leaving anyway. “It's my fault. Sometimes, when I sing, it... attracts people; they lose their mind. It's... something I inherited from my great grandfather. I try not to sing often, even if I love it, but sometimes...” He shrugs.” I guess you won't believe me, but—”

 

Jack shakes his head and Bitty shuts up. “I... I believe you. I've seen the people outside. And I've... heard stories. About the NHL. Things happen, sometimes, on the ice. Some say the Cup has power... But this... I feel normal.”

 

“Yeah, about that. I have no idea why that is. You're supposed to be madly in love with me right now or something.” Bitty registers what he's just said a second too late, claps a hand over his mouth and blushes to the roots, but he can't take it back now. He breathes for a second and looks at Jack's face.

 

Jack's red, embarrassed in a way Bitty has rarely seen in him. That's when Bitty understands.

 

Jack... Jack likes him. Jack went with him for coffee, helped him with his fear of checking, bought him an oven. Jack is immune to his power because Jack _likes_ him; likes him for who he is and not because of what his voice does.

 

Bitty can't help it; he closes the distance between them, stands on his tiptoes, and kisses Jack, softly, getting used to the feeling of Jack's lips under his. Jack responds after a second, kissing Bitty back, slow when he recovers from the surpirse.

 

Bitty can't quite believe this is happening. This is all he has wanted for the last few months. And now he's here, making out with Jack Zimmermann. His hands go to Jack's neck, and up to thread through his hair. Jack moans softly and breaks the kiss.

 

“Shouldn't we... shouldn't we do something about the people outside?” Jack asks, pointing at motioning towards the general direction of the window.

 

Bitty shakes his head. “Nothing we can do. It will pass soon enough. Besides, we have more important things to do. Like talk about how you _like_ me, and you never said _anything,_ Mr. Zimmerman.”

 

Jack gives him a quick peck on the mouth. “We have _more_ important things to do, eh?”

 

A second later Bitty is being kissed again, throughly this time, and he forgets about the people outside, who will probably snap out of it soon enough and wonder how they got to the yard in front of the Haus. He can't think of anything other than Jack's mouth on his, Jack's ass under his hands, the overwhelming sensation of feeling happy.

 

Taylor Swift still plays softly in the background.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, kudos and comments are love and, if you want, you can come talk to me about hockey boys kissing (and hockey) on [tumblr](http://ilovetextingandscones.tumblr.com/).


End file.
